Dark Souls walkthrough

KILN OF THE FIRST FLAME & GWYN, LORD OF CINDER

Return to the Firelink Altar (Frampt or Kaathe can warp you there). Place the lord souls into the Lordvessel and the door ahead will open.

The path to Gwyn is very straightforward. The only enemies standing in your way are several Black Knights, each with a unique Black Knight Weapon. Circle-strafe and backstab. All of these knights always drop Titanite Chunks, so this is a great area to farm for those.

If you’ve been following this walkthrough, Solaire will be available to help with this fight. His sign (pictured above) is at the top of the steps that lead down to the fog door. This makes things remarkably easier. 

BOSS – GWYN, LORD OF CINDER

Note: Once you defeat Gwyn, there’s no going back. You’ll have to begin a New Game+

Gwyn is, ironically, vulnerable to fire, so Pyromancers should have no problem. Equip some flame resistant armor (we were using Smough’s armor) and a flame resistant shield (we used a Black Knight Shield). As a Pyromancer, we equipped the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring (sold by Griggs) and used the Pyromancy spell ‘Power Within’ just before entering the door.

Once the battle begins, Gwyn will always perform a leaping attack. Dodge this, then stay close to him. Solaire should draw him away from you. When this happens, hit Gwyn as hard as you can with high level Pyromancy spells. What we did not realize in the video (obviously) is that when Gwyn grabs Solaire, he is invincible for most of the animation. Still, Great Combustion and Great Chaos Fireball make short work of Gwyn.

There are other methods that work, too - even if you’re solo. Staying very close to Gwyn is actually better than backpedaling, so long as you can read when he’s about to use his grab attack. Roll out of the way and use this opportunity to either heal or hit him hard.

You can also parry nearly all of Gwyn’s attacks. This takes skill, but smaller shields like the Target Shield increase your parry window. Obviously, a mistimed parry could be disastrous, so be careful. If you are going to use this method, make sure to use the most powerful one-handed weapon you have for the riposte.

After the battle, light the bonfire for the ‘good’ ending. Leave the area for the ‘bad’ ending. Congratulations! Time for New Game +!